


Learning Curve

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Lives, Chocolate Box Treat, F/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:00:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Rey and Ben start the next Jedi school together.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 33
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Learning Curve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sheeon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheeon/gifts).



Even before she arrives, Rey knows the children are weeping again. She reaches the door, dropping the stern expression she wants to wear for a more kindly one she's been practicing. "Everyone all right?"

Jaya runs to her first, burying her face in Rey's side, wordless sobs wracking her. Korin shivers where he sits on the floor. Rey can't hold back her annoyance, asking Ben, "What did you tell them this time?"

"It was just a story." He flashes her an annoyed look of his own, and under his eyes is an echo of the man he used to be, the man she killed. Rey hates seeing him here in the safe place they've built for this school. Fortunately, Ben's eyes soften in another moment, Kylo's ghost banished again. "I'm sorry."

"Tell them."

Obediently, he says, "I should not have told that story to you. That was a mistake on my part." Rey gives him another look until he says in a less than tolerant sing-song voice, "What do we know about mistakes?"

Jaya sniffs. Korin recites with her: "Mistakes are opportunities to change the future."

"See?" Rey says with a false cheeriness of her own. "Easy lesson for tonight. Why don't you two get some sleep?"

The two children trundle off to their rooms. The older students have already been sent away to study and sleep in their own. The school is growing. Rey worries about this. The last two occasions where the Jedi set up places of learning, the pupils became targets and died. Theirs could be a doomed enterprise, assuming she hasn't already doomed them by her choice of co-teacher.

He's still watching her, his face in a state of not-quite-contrition.

"What did you tell them?"

"It was just a fairy story."

"They were crying."

"Not all fairy stories are happy." His chin is set in an obstinate pose. "That's an important lesson, too."

"You are the worst teacher who ever lived."

Unexpectedly, he smiles, and Rey is undone. Ben gives the most awkward yet sincere smiles of anyone she's ever known, like his face doesn't know how to make the motions, and surprises itself at the feat each time. She loves the smiles, and loves him, and she can't imagine anyone she wants more at her side for this, even when he's terrible at it. Having the voices of her own teachers at her ear helps, especially when either or both manifest by her side. Knowing there are countless others just out of sight but no longer separated from her by Palpatine's cruel spells helps as well. She and Ben aren't doing this alone, not with kind ghosts beside them.

The older students also lend a hand. As the pair of them douse the lights and head down the hallway, she pauses outside Finn's door. She won't disturb him now, knowing he's working on deciphering a particularly tricky text that's left her cold each time she's tried grasping it. Finn is good at making connections where she can't see them. Given another few months here, he and Ben might even admit they're becoming friends.

Ben watches her eyes settle on the closed door before she turns back to him. Through their bond, where they won't be overheard, she says, "Tomorrow you should tell him he's doing a good job."

"Finn doesn't like it when I pay attention to him. He still thinks I'm secretly planning to murder you all."

"All the more reason." She takes Ben's hand as they walk, reaching the door to their own small room. They don't keep much here. Rey never owned much, and Ben brought nothing with him from his last life as they stumbled together from the ruins of Exegol. Two people who were half-dead meant two people who were barely alive, and plenty of those back with the Resistance would have been happy to rid Ben of his remaining life. The school is a better place for him, away from everyone he's hurt, spending his days making up for the past by training the children who will be the future. She hopes so, and Rey has been told the best things have always been built on hope.

They don't even bother lighting the lamp. Ben finds her mouth in the dark, taking her shoulders in his hands. Their furtive touches in the past, enabled through their bond, were by their nature quick, messy, and sorrowful. Now each touch is thoughtful, knowing, and filled with eager joy as they slide off their clothes and hurry under the blankets. Rey can't imagine tiring of the feel of him under her fingers, can't picture growing weary of his kisses. They are building a new life here, not alone, never alone, and as he slides into her, thick and warm and needy in his own want, she can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else in the galaxy.


End file.
